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Patent 1300461 Summary

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Claims and Abstract availability

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(12) Patent: (11) CA 1300461
(21) Application Number: 562023
(54) English Title: APPARATUS FOR EXPANDING COMMINUTED TOBACCO MATERIAL
(54) French Title: DISPOSITIF D'EXPANSION DU TABAC FINEMENT BROYE
Status: Expired
Bibliographic Data
(52) Canadian Patent Classification (CPC):
  • 131/87
(51) International Patent Classification (IPC):
  • A24B 3/18 (2006.01)
(72) Inventors :
  • HIRSCH, WERNER (Germany)
  • RITTERSHAUS, ERHARD (Germany)
  • WEISS, ARNO (Germany)
(73) Owners :
  • B.A.T. CIGARETTENFABRIKEN G.M.B.H. (Germany)
(71) Applicants :
(74) Agent: MACRAE & CO.
(74) Associate agent:
(45) Issued: 1992-05-12
(22) Filed Date: 1988-03-21
Availability of licence: N/A
(25) Language of filing: English

Patent Cooperation Treaty (PCT): No

(30) Application Priority Data:
Application No. Country/Territory Date
P 37 10 677.5 Germany 1987-03-31

Abstracts

English Abstract


ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE

An apparatus for expanding comminuted tobacco material comprises a metering
and supply means for supplying the tobacco material to an expansion
chamber, a nozzle opening in a wall of the expansion chamber for the
introduction of a hot gas consisting of air and steam for accelerating the
tobacco material under pressure drop to at least 50 m/s with a residence
time of the tobacco material in the expansion chamber of less than about
1/10 s and a delay tube following the expansion chamber. The expansion
chamber is integrated into the metering and supply means. In an end wall of
the expansion chamber at least one nozzle opening is located in the
vicinity of the bottom so that an adjustable steam/air mixture pushes the
tobacco material substantially at a right-angle out of the expansion
chamber. The expansion chamber is connected to an acceleration tube with
converging cross-section which is followed by the delay tube.


Claims

Note: Claims are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.


CLAIMS

1. An apparatus for expanding comminuted tobacco material, comprising
a) a metering and supply means for supplying the tobacco material to an
expansion chamber,
b) a nozzle opening in a wall of the expansion chamber for introducing a hot
gas consisting of air and steam for accelerating the tobacco material under
a pressure drop to at least 50 m/s with a residence time of the tobacco
material in the expansion chamber of less than about 1/10 s, and
c) a delay tube with diverging cross-section following the expansion chamber,
wherein
d) the expansion chamber is integrated into the metering and supply means;
e) the tobacco material is supplied approximately perpendicularly to the
nozzle opening;
f) in an end wall of the expansion chamber at least one nozzle opening is
disposed near the bottom of the expansion chamber so that an adjustable
steam/air mixture is supplied;
g) the expansion chamber is connected with an acceleration tube with con-
verging cross-section,
h) which is followed by the delay tube.

2. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the metering and supply means is
a rotary vane feeder, in particular a blow-through rotary vane feeder.

3. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the metering and supply means is
a metering screw.

4. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein at least three nozzle bores are
provided.

5. An apparatus according to claim 4, wherein the nozzle bores are formed so
that the streamlines of the jet are approximately parallel to each other and
approximately perpednicular to the exit face.

6. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein a slit-like nozzle opening is
provided.

14


7. An apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the acceleration tube is
connected via a tube of constant cross-section to the delay tube.

8. An apparatus according to claim 7, wherein a step-like transition is
provided between the tube and the delay tube.

9. An apparatus according to claim 8, wherein the delay tube changes from
circular cross-section to square cross-section.

10. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the end wall with the nozzle
openings is followed by a distributing chamber which is connected via the
nozzle openings to the expansion chamber.

11. An apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the end wall of the
distributing chamber comprises, apart from nozzle openings of constant
cross-section, nozzle openings of conically diminishing corss-section which
are closeable by a displaceable piston.

12. An apparatus according to claim 1, comprising a source of saturated steam
and a source of compressed air which are connected via regulating valves to
the distributing chamber.

13. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein as flow drive for the steam/air
mixture a fan is used which is connected via a conduit to the distributing
chamber.

14. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein as flow drive for the steam/air
mixture a steam jet pump is used which is connected via a conduit to the dis-
tributing chamber.

15. An apparatus according to claim 1, wherein regulating valves are provided
in the conduits for the supply of steam and air.

16. An apparatus according to claim 15, comprising a sensor for the filling
power, flow meters for steam and air and a control means which forms from the
output signals of the sensor and the flow meters adjusting signals for the
regulating valves.


Description

Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.


13V~4~,~

APPARATUS FOR EXPANDING COMMINUTED TOBACCO MATERIAL

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the invention

The invention relates to an apparatus for expanding comminuted tobacco
material.

The term "comminuted tobacco material" includes in particular cut rib
and/or leaf material and reconstituted tobacco.

2 Description of the prior art

German patent 3 147 846 discloses an expansion method in which the tobacco
material is subjected in a moist state within an extremely short period of
time to a great temperature increase with pressure reaction. The resulting
abrupt evaporation of the liquid contained in the tobacco particles, i.e.
water, leads to an improvement of the filling power of the tobacco material
by 30 to 100 % without producing any appreciable destruction of the
structure of the tobacco cells. In spite of the pronounced expansion and
thus improvement in the filling power, the structure of the tobacco
particles obtained immediately after the expansion is retained even in the
further processing of the tobacco material.

A further apparatus for expanding comminuted tobacco material is shown in
Fig. 5 of German patent 3 147 846 and comprises a rotary vane feeder for
the supply of the tobacco material to an expansion chamber, a nozzle
opening in a wall of the expansion chamber for introducing a hot gas for
accelerating the tobacco material under pressure drop to at least 50 m/s
with a residence time of the tobacce material in the expansion chamber of
less than about 1/10 s and a delay tube following the expansion chamber.

The tobacco material entering the expansion system via the rotary, vane
feeder impinges substantially perpendicularly on the free jet steam
emerging from the nozzle opening, is accelerated by said free jet and at

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13()C~461

the same time expanded, and is carried away substantially horizontally to
a drying means. When the tobacco material enters the expansion chamber, the
steam condenses abruptly on the tobacco particles and within fractions of a
second effects an increase of moisture and temperature up to the proximity
of the condensation temperature corresponding to the pressure in the
expansion chamber. Thereafter the tobacco particles are sucked into the
reduced pressure zone of the free jet. The high heat and material exchange
and the low pressure in the free jet lead to a "flash evaporation" of
portions of the water disposed in the tobacco and thus effect the expansion
of the tobacco particles.

For drying the resulting steam/tobacco-material mixture is blown directly
into an air stream dryer.

In practice, with such an expansion apparatus various disadvantages have
been encountered. In particular, the degree of expansion and thus finally
the filling power of the tobacco material cannot be adjusted and thus
varied.

Also, in the pneumatic transport of the tobacco material falling freelyfrom the rotary vane feeder into the expansion chamber, not all of the
tobacco particles come into intensive contact with the hot gas so that a
comparatively inhomogenous expansion results, considered along the total
volume of tobacco particles to be treated.

Furthermore, due to moisture tobacco particles can deposit in the rotary
vane wheel and in the expansion chamber and this can lead to a clogging of
the apparatus.

Finally, the known expansion apparatus has a high hot gas, generally steam,
consumption so that methods are also being sought for reducing the costs
involved.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention therefore has as its object the provision of an expansion
-- 3 -

1 3~

apparatus of the type indicated in which the afore-mentioned disadvantages
do not occur. In particular, an expansion apparatus is to be proposed with
which the expansion degree and thus the filling power can be adjusted in
wide ranges without any problems, in the extreme case between the expansion
degrees O and lOO %, this being done with simultaneous reduction of the
consumption of steam and very homogeneous expansion for all tobacco parti-
cles. Furthermore, soiling of the expansion apparatus is to be avoided.

The invention therefore proposes in an apparatus for expanding comminuted
tobacco material comprising a metering and supply means for supplying the
tobacco material to an expansion chamber, a nozzle opening in a wall of the
expansion chamber for introducing a hot gas consisting of air and steam for
accelerating the tobacco material under a pressure drop to at least 50 m/s
with a residence time of the tobacco material in the expansion chamber of
less than about l/lO s, and a delay tube with diverging cross-section
following the expansion chamber, the improvement being in that the
expansion chamber is integrated into the metering and supply means; the
tobacco material is supplied approximately perpendicular to the nozzle
opening; in an end wall of the expansion chamber there is at least one
nozzle opening near the bottom of the expansion chamber so that an adju-
stable steam/air mixture is supplied; the expansion chamber is connected
with an acceleration tube with converging cross-section, which is followed
by the delay tube.

Advantageous embodiments are defined by the features of the subsidiary
claims.

The advantages achieved with the invention are based on the following mode
of operation: The expansion chamber is integrated into the metering and
supply means, thus an expansion chamber is created to which an exactly
defined amount of tobacco material is supplied.

The metering and supply means may be a rotary vane feeder, in particular a
blow-through rotary vane feeder, a metering screw, etc.

This expansion chamber may be sealed very tightly so that the entire gas




,

-`` 13UC~461

supplied to said expansion chamber is available for the expansion and the
pneumatic transport of the tobacco material.

In an end wall of the metering and supply means there is at least one, pre-
ferably three, nozzle openings which are so arranged that the tobacco
particles conveyed into the expansion chamber must necessarily pass through
the nozzle openings. From said nozzle openings an adjustable steam/air
mixture enters the expansion chamber substantially perpendicularly to the
metering and supply means of the tobacco material at high speed and breaks
the tobacco agglomerations conveyed into the expansion chamber down into
individual fibres, i.e. the principle employed is comparable to a pneumatic
blade.

By means of the resolving of the tobacco agglomerations (tobacco lumps)
into individual fibres, each individual fibre is given an intensive contact
with the steam/air mixture. In addition, substantially narrower flow
cross-sections can be chosen, i.e. for given flow rates substantially less
hot gas is required.

When arranging the nozzle openings it should be ensured that the Coanda
effect is avoided.

The free jet cleans the traversed parts of the metering and supply means in
a manner comparable to a steam jet cleaner. Furthermore, due to a kind of
wiping movement of the tobacco material over the bottom of the expansion
chamber, the latter is kept free from tobacco deposits.

The ratio steam/air in this mixture may be adjusted in constructionally
simple manner, for example via corresponding valves, so that a desired
expansion degree and thus a desired filling power of the tobacco material
can be set.

Since for static reasons not all of the tobacco particles come into
intensive contact with the free jet emerging from the nozzle opening, an
acceleration tube with converging cross-section is provided following the
expansion chamber. In this tube all of the tobacco particles undergo an

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130~?461
acceleration with heat and material exchange and a simultaneous continuous
pressure drop, this in turn leading to a flash evaporation of portions of
the water present in the tobacco.

The acceleration tube is followed, possibly with interposition of a tube of
constant cross-section, by a delay tube via an abrupt increase in the
cross-section.

In contrast to the continuous cross-section increase, the abrupt increase
in the cross-section prevents pressure recovery (pressure increase) after
the accelaration tube.

A pressure increase after the acceleration tube would have the outcome that
the expansion result achieved would be partially cancelled agaln.

Because of the thorough mixing of the steam and tobacco particles and the
use of the principle of the pneumatic blade, the steam consumption can be
substantially reduced compared with the known expansion apparatuses.

In such an expansion apparatus operating with a steam/air mixture, the
expansion degree can be continuously adjusted from O to a maximum value.
The expansion degree depends substantially on which temperature and energy
gradient is reached between the tobacco particles warmed by condensation on
the one hand and the evaporation temperature corresponding to the low
pressure in the free jet emerging from the nozzle opening on the other
hand. When using a saturated steam/air mixture, the tobacco particles are
heated by condensation at the most to the dew-point temperature of the
mixture used. This dew point temperature, corresponding substantially to
the temperature of the tobacco particles, depends on the concentration of
the steam/air mixture and the pressure in the expansion chamber.

The expansion by flash evaporation starts, when the tobacco temperatureexceeds the evaporation temperature in the free jet, and increases with
increasing temperature difference.

The simplest way of making a steam/air mixture is the admixture of compress

13~461

ed air into the high-pressure steam conduit upstream of the expansion
chamber. Since, however, the generation of compressed air is relatively
expensive, this solution will probably be practicable only for experimen-
tal or pilot apparatuses.

A more economical solution is the use of a fan for admixing the air. For
this purpose the pressure loss on injection into the expansion chamber must
be reduced. This is done by opening additional nozzle bores in the end wall
of the expansion chamber.

To achieve the maximum expansion, for which high jet velocities and pure
steam atmosphere are necessary, these additional nozzles are closed.

A solution is obtained without additional energy expenditure when using a
steam jet pump. However, here as well the pressure loss must be lowered by
variable cross-sections upon injection into the expansion chamber.

The steam/air ratio in the hot gas supplied to the expansion chamber can be
varied within seconds so that regulation of the expansion degree and thus
the filling power is possible in that the filling power is measured, for
example, downstream from the dryer following the expansion apparatus; on
deviation from a given desired value, the ratio steam/air in the hot gas is
adjusted accordingly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention will be described in more detail hereinafter with the aid of
examples of embodiment with reference to the accompanying schematic
drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 shows the basic structure of an expansion apparatus
with blow-through rotary vane feeder and following an
air stream dryer with tangential separator,

Fig. 2 shows to a larger scale the free jet emerging from a
nozzle opening,

13Q0461

Fig. 3 is a cross-section through a distributing chamber preceding
the expansion chamber with one embodiment of a flow drive,

Fig. 4 is a further cross-section through the distributing
chamber with another embodiment of the flow drive, and

Fig. 5 shows in the form of a block circuit diagram the control
of the expansion degree and thus the filling power.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

In the expansion apparatus shown in Fig. 1 and denoted generally by
reference numeral 10, the comminuted, in particular cut, tobacco material
(not shown) as a rule cut rib and/or leaf material, or also reconstituted
tobacco, drops from a vibrating conveyor trough 12 through a filling open-
ing 14 downwardly into a rotary vane or cellular wheel feeder 16 which
comprises two opposing parallel disc-shaped end walls 16a, 16b between
which the rotatable shaft 16d of the rotary vane wheel is disposed. On said
shaft a plurality of vanes 16c is mounted so that between two adjacent
vanes 16c the falling comminuted tobacco material is collected and
entrained on rotation of the vanes about the axis of the rotary vane wheel.

With the exception of the region in the vicinity of the filling opening 14,
the rotary vane or cellular wheel is surrounded by a cylindrical chamber
which is not shown in detail and on the inner wall of which the outer ends
of the vanes 16c are continuous, thus avoiding gas losses.

In this cellular wheel sluice or rotary vane feeder 16, a "movable" expan-
sion chamber is integrated and is formed in each case by the two lowermost
vanes 16c in conjunction with the portion of the chamber wall extending
between said two vanes.

In the portion of the right end wall 16a according to the illustration of
Fig. 1 associated with said expansion chamber in the example of embodiment
illustrated, there are three nozzle openings 18; in this embodiment the
nozzle openings 18 have a circular cross-section and can be formed, for

-`~ 13(~J461
example, by cylindrical bores.

Alternatively, it would also be possible to provide slit-shaped nozzle
openings. The essential point is only that the nozzle openings 18 are located
in the vicinity of the bottom of the expansion chamber and the Coanda effect
is avoided.

At the right end wall 16a a distributing chamber 20 follows which communica
via the nozzle openings 18 with the expansion chamber. A water vapour/air
mixture at a pressure of about 3 bar is supplied to the distributing chamber
20 as indicated in Fig. 1.

To generate this water vapour/air mixture, compressed air is supplied from a
compressed air source 22 and saturated steam is supplied from a corresponding
source 24 via conduits 23, 25 with flow meters 27 and regulating valves 26;
compressed air and steam are mixed in the high-pressure steam conduit 28 upstream
from the distributing chamber 20.

At the outlet of the expansion chamber in the left end wall 16b of the rotary
vane feeder 16, an acceleration tube 30 follows with a cross-section
converging in the conveying direction which merges into a further tube 32 of
constant cross-section. The tube 32 is followed by a step-like enlargement of
the circular cross-section which then merges into a delay tube 34 with
rectangular, in particular square, cross-section.

Said tube 34 is followed by a curved tube 36, through which the tobacco
material is supplied to an air-stream dryer 38.

Via a conduit 40 the dryer 38 receives air from a source 42 which is
accelerated via a fan 44 and heated via a heating means 46.

The mixture tobacco material/air leaving the dryer 38 is separated in a
tangential separator 48 into tobacco material on the one hand, which is
supplied to the corresponding outlet 50, and air on the other hand, which is
supplied along a conduit by means of a fan 56 to the outlet 58.

In this expansion apparatus 10 when the comminuted tobacco material is
entrained by the vanes 16c of the rotary vane wheel downwardly onto the bottom

g


. .

130C 461

of the cylindrical chamber surrounding the rotary vane wheel, it is there
entrained by the steam/air mixture flowing with a pressure of 3 bar via the
distributing chamber 20 and the nozzle openings 18 into the expansion chamber
and accelerating the tobacco material under pressure drop to at least 50 m/s.
By a sort of "wiping effect" the tobacco material is wiped in layers across
the bottom and thereby transported out of the expansion chamber into the tube
30.

Expediently, the nozzle openings 18 are adapted to the movement direction of
the rotary vane wheel so that the first tobacco particles introduced by a vane
16c into the expansion chamber are immediately subjected to the steam/air
mixture and therefore the residence time of the tobacco material in the
expansion chamber is less than about 1/10 s.

The temperature of the steam/air mixture, the concentration of which can be
varied by appropriate adjustment of the regulating valves 26, should lie
between 50 and 500 C.

In the acceleration tube 30 the tobacco material partially expanded in the
free jets is pneumatically transported, expanded once again and supplied to
the step-like transition between the tube 32 and the tube 34. The step and the
subsequent transition from the circular cross-section to the square cross-sec-
tion ensures a very careful treatment of the sensitive, now expanded tobacco
particles which are also guided gently in the curved tube 36 and dried by
means of hot air supplied in the dryer 38; the tobacco material/air mixture
thus formed is separated in the tangential separator 48 into the two compo-
nents which are supplied to the respective outlets, that is the air outlet 58
on the one hand and the tobacco material outlet 50 on the other hand.

Fig. 2 shows again to an enlarged scale the emergence of a free jet into the
expansion chamber.

The "steam injection" into the chamber taking place with high velocity leads
to an extremely high heat and material transfer in conjunction with a pronoun-
ced conveying effect in the direction of the arrow for the individual tobacco
particles.

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13(~461

As already indicated above, the generation of compressed air is relatively
expensive so that this solution is suitable only for experimental or pilot
apparatuses.

A more economical solution is shown in Fig. 3, namely the use of a fan for
introducing the air. In this embodiment the air is supplied from a source 60
via a flow meter 62, a fan 64 and a regulating valve 66 along a conduit 68
and is mixed in the conduit 70 with the steam which is supplied from a
source 72 via a flow meter 74, a steam dryer 76 and a regulating valve 78
to a conduit 80. The conduit 70 with the steam/air mixture is connected to
a tube piece 82 of the distributing chamber 20, The left end wall 16a of
the distributing chamber 20, seen in the illustration of Fig. 3 and corres-
ponding to the right end wall 16a of the rotary vane feeder 16, comprises
two types of openings towards the expansion chamber, namely lower nozzle
openings 18 of constant flow cress-section and upper openings 18a having a
circular flow cross-section diminishing towards the expansion chamber.
Whereas the nozzle openings 18 are always open, the nozzle openings 18a can be
closed to a greater or lesser degree as required; for this purpose a piston 84
extends in the longitudinal direction of the distributing chamber 20; the left
end of said piston in the illustration of Fig. 3 projects into the nozzle
opening 18a and therefore closes the flow cross-section thereof to a greater
or lesser degree.

The pressure loss occurring upon introduction of the steamlair mixture from
the distributing chamber 20 into the expansion chamber can be lowered in that
the additional nozzle openings 18a are opened by shifting the piston 84 to the
right. For maximum expansion, for which high jet velocities and a pure steam
atmosphere are necessary, the additional nozzle openings 18a are closed, i.e.
the steam now flows with extremely high velocity through the nozzle openings
18 into the expansion chamber.

Of course, if required, a plurality of additional nozzle openings 18a can be
provided; each nozzle opening 18a must then have a piston 84 associated there-
with.

Fig. 4 shows another embodiment without additional energy costs in which as
flow drive a stream jet pump or steam injector B8 is used. Said steam jet pump

13~C146~


88 is connected on the one hand via the conduit 70 to the connecting pieces 82
of the distributing chamber 20, which has the construction shown in Fig. 3,
and on the other hand via the conduit 68, the valve 66 and the flow meter 62
to the air source 60. In addition the steam jet pump 88 is connected to the
conduit 80 with the steam dryer 76, the flow meter 74 and the steam source 72.
The two conduits 68, 80 are connected via a further conduit 90 to a regulating
valve 92.

In this embodiment for the generation of the steam/air mixture~the pressure
loss upon injection from the distributing chamber 20 into the expansion
chamber must also be lowered by the variable cross-section of the nozzle
opening 18a.
To improve the quality of the end product "cigarette", a uniformly expanded
tobacco material is desired. Regulation to constant expansion can be achieved
by influencing the expansion and use of suitable sensors for the filling-power
measurement, for example by means of continuous rollers as known from German
Offenlegungsschrift 3 234 258.

The construction of a corresponding control circuit is made suitable and
possible by the very high response velocity of the expansion apparatus, since
any change of the expansion achieved takes place almost without delay; the
time constant of a few seconds occurring is due only to the transport paths of
the tobacco material from the expansion chamber to the filling-power measure-
ment.
Fig. 5 shows a basic illustration of such an expansion control which does
not have any influence at all on other process parameters, for example the
setting of the dryer.

The filling power of the expanded cut tobacco is detected by means of asuitable sensor, as disclosed,for example,in German Offenlegungsschrift
3 234 258. This actual value from the sensor 94 is supplied to a control means
96 which also receives actual values from two flow meters 98, 99, namely a
flow meter 98 for the amount of steam and a flow meter 99 for the amount of
air.

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. ` '
:

1 3 ~ 6 1

From these three actual values~the control means, for example in accordance
with a given algorithm, forms adjusting signals for the two actuating
members, namely the two regulating valves 26 for the air and steam in the
embodiment of Fig. l.

The regulating valves in the other embodiments according to Figures 3 and 4
can also be actuated in corresponding manner.
This makes is possible to set and regulate the expansion in the expansion
apparatus, indicated only diagramatically and having the construction shown
in Fig. l, but taking account of the actual value of the filling power. Il

As an alternative to the embodiments illustrated, the expanded tobacco mate- ¦
rial /hot gas mixture need not be supplied directly to an air stream dryer,
but can also be separated in suitable separators, and the expanded tobacco
material can be supplied, for example, to a drum/belt or fluid-bed dryer.

Finally, another special feature compared with other expansion methods is that
irrespective of the set expansion degree only a very small loss of tobacco
constituents is detected. This is due to the low temperatures during the
expansion and the extremely short treatment time.




- 13 -

Representative Drawing
A single figure which represents the drawing illustrating the invention.
Administrative Status

For a clearer understanding of the status of the application/patent presented on this page, the site Disclaimer , as well as the definitions for Patent , Administrative Status , Maintenance Fee  and Payment History  should be consulted.

Administrative Status

Title Date
Forecasted Issue Date 1992-05-12
(22) Filed 1988-03-21
(45) Issued 1992-05-12
Expired 2009-05-12

Abandonment History

There is no abandonment history.

Payment History

Fee Type Anniversary Year Due Date Amount Paid Paid Date
Application Fee $0.00 1988-03-21
Registration of a document - section 124 $0.00 1989-03-15
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 2 1994-05-12 $100.00 1994-05-03
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 3 1995-05-12 $100.00 1995-05-01
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 4 1996-05-13 $100.00 1996-03-28
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 5 1997-05-12 $150.00 1997-03-17
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 6 1998-05-12 $150.00 1998-03-24
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 7 1999-05-12 $150.00 1999-04-19
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 8 2000-05-12 $150.00 2000-04-20
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 9 2001-05-14 $150.00 2001-04-26
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 10 2002-05-13 $200.00 2002-04-26
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 11 2003-05-12 $200.00 2003-04-17
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 12 2004-05-12 $250.00 2004-04-26
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 13 2005-05-12 $250.00 2005-05-06
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 14 2006-05-12 $250.00 2006-04-13
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 15 2007-05-14 $450.00 2007-04-13
Maintenance Fee - Patent - Old Act 16 2008-05-12 $450.00 2008-04-16
Owners on Record

Note: Records showing the ownership history in alphabetical order.

Current Owners on Record
B.A.T. CIGARETTENFABRIKEN G.M.B.H.
Past Owners on Record
HIRSCH, WERNER
RITTERSHAUS, ERHARD
WEISS, ARNO
Past Owners that do not appear in the "Owners on Record" listing will appear in other documentation within the application.
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Document
Description 
Date
(yyyy-mm-dd) 
Number of pages   Size of Image (KB) 
Representative Drawing 2000-08-04 1 15
Drawings 1993-10-30 4 67
Claims 1993-10-30 2 72
Abstract 1993-10-30 1 45
Cover Page 1993-10-30 1 17
Description 1993-10-30 12 486
Fees 1997-03-17 1 59
Fees 1996-03-23 1 51
Fees 1995-05-01 1 36
Fees 1994-05-03 1 49